How to Prepare for the School Summer Holidays (Without Losing Yourself)

The summer holidays are coming — and whether you're excited or already exhausted at the thought, this episode is for you.

Charlie shares how she actually prepares for six weeks at home with five kids: the practical stuff (loose planning, meal prep, night-before routines) and the mental stuff (checking in with yourself, protecting your energy, and remembering you're a person too).

In this episode:

* Why there's no "right" way to feel about summer

* The power of loose weekly themes (not rigid schedules)

* How night-before prep saves your sanity

* Balancing big days with recovery days

* The mental check-in questions to ask yourself before the holidays start

* Protecting your identity when you're surrounded by kids 24/7

Resources mentioned:

* Back to Me — the 5-module course for moms ready to feel like themselves again

* Home Friction Audit worksheet

* 2-Minute Fix Framework

* Weekly Planning Template

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Website: https://stan.store/Charliesparentingpages (Mum Matters Community & all other tools for motherhood)

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Transcript

0:26

Hello, lovely, and welcome back to Chat with Charlie on Mum Matters. So the summer holidays are coming, and I know some of you just felt your stomach drop hearing that. And some of you are genuinely excited. I am one of the people that is genuinely excited for the summer holidays. And if you're like me, you've got the paddling pool ready, the day trip list pinned to the fridge But even if you're the mom who loves summer, you still wanna feel prepared. You still want to go into it feeling like you've got a loose plan at least, rather than just white-knuckling your way through six weeks. So today, I'm gonna share how I actually prepare for the summer holidays with five kids. The practical stuff, the mental stuff, and a few mindset shifts that have made a massive difference to me over the years So let's get into it First, I wanna say something. There's no right way to feel about the summer holidays. If you're a working mom and you're already stressing about childcare and juggling cover, I see you completely. It's really, really tough. If you're a single mom and six weeks feels like a mountain, I see you too If you've got little ones who still nap and you're thinking, "How am I supposed to keep a toddler entertained all day, every day?" Yeah, I've been there too. And if you've got bigger kids who are harder to please, or a mix of ages, or kids with different needs, same. The point is, summer doesn't look the same for everyone. So take what works from today for you and leave what doesn't. This isn't about doing it perfectly. Nothing I say or teach ever is about doing it perfectly, because the only perfect way is your way. It's about going in with a bit of a plan so you don't feel like you're drowning by week two Right, let's talk practical. Here's my number one belief when it comes to the summer holidays: preparation is everything. I know that sounds totally obvious, But I don't mean military-level scheduling. I mean giving yourself a loose structure so your brain isn't working overtime every single morning trying to figure out what you're doing Cause I, I don't know if you're anything like me, but if I do that, my brain just immediately goes to mush So here's what I do. Before the holidays even start, I sit down and loosely plan the weeks. I don't plan every single day. I plan themes, if you like. Like this week we'll do one big day out, one play day, one crafty morning, and the rest is chill, that kind of thing. I also prep the meals. Not necessarily meal prep like batch cooking, although you can if that's your thing. I mean, I write out what we're eating so I'm not standing in front of the fridge at 5:00 PM with five hungry kids asking me what's for dinner. And you know that's not my thing anyway. I do have my meal rota, which I will still stick to loosely in the summer holidays, but, you know, things are definitely different. Routines are different during the summer holidays, so I do adapt that slightly That decision fatigue, it's real, and it, in the summer it hits harder because your routines are already out the window. So I plan the dinners very similar to how I usually do throughout the year with a few tweaks I do my food shops like a week in advance, so I know what I'm doing for the following week. I make sure my freezer's stocked with easy wins for the days when everything falls apart That's where I find batch cooking quite good. if you are batch cooking or if you've got leftovers from meals, even from now, you can make little tiny ready meals. if I've got some bolognese leftover, I'll put it in a little foil tray, and then it's bolognese for one person, or shepherd's pie for one person, or whatever it is that you're making. You can make little ready meals in the freezers, then you'll have, like, a variety of things for when the summer holidays come and you've just got that evening where you've been out all day and you've come home, and you're like, "I have no idea what to do." You don't wanna be living on takeaways the whole summer. Eating out with a, a large family all the time is extortionate. So you wanna have easy-to-do options for when you, have days like that. Because those days will happen, and that's okay Now, here's a big one. If we're going anywhere the next day, I do the prep the night before. I pack the bag, I check the weather, totally necessary in this country. I lay out the clothes, I fill the water bottles, I do the packed lunches, because mornings with five kids are chaos, and if I'm trying to pack a bag, find sun cream, locate someone's shoes, and get everyone fed and out the door, I'm already running on empty before the day's even started. That's if we even manage to get out the door. So I front load it. Night before, bag done. Snack sorted, rough idea of what time we need to leave. I also set time expectations with the kids the night before. So I'll say something like, "Tomorrow we're going to the beach. We're leaving at 9:00. We'll be back late afternoon." That way, they're not asking every five minutes, "When are we going?" Or melting down when it's time to leave because they weren't expecting it. Kids do better with information. Small, short, simple pieces of information. Don't, like, overload it and pack it so they can't actually digest it. But honestly, once you give them the information, and you give this kind of information to your own head as well, you'll find that all round everyone's feeling a lot better I do have my little timer as well that counts down. So if I'm saying to the kids, "You need to be dressed," I do this on a daily basis anyway, but if I say to them, "You've got 20 minutes to be dressed," I put 20 minutes on the timer so they can visually see, even the little ones can visually see the, the clock ticking down until they need to be dressed and ready to go. And if they actively see me getting ready to go as well and getting things out the door, it actually spurs them on to to hurry up too. But the visual time I have found is brilliant, especially for little kids because they, they don't have concept of time. Five-year-olds, four-year-olds, three-year-olds, they don't have concept of time, and they don't understand what five minutes looks like, what 10 minutes looks like. But if they can see it on a clock, and they know that dinging sound when it goes off, then they start to understand that too But here's something I've learned over the years. You can't do... I can't do, don't know about you, but I can't do big days back to back. Well, look, you can, but you'll pay for it. So I try to balance it. I do one busy day out, which then is followed by a slower day at home. If we've done a theme park or a beach trip, or even just a long play date with lots of energy, the next day is a pajama morning, coloring books, maybe paddling pool in the garden or a film. I call it recovery time. And I don't feel guilty about that at all because I, I think they need it. I have done the days where we've gone out, like, two consecutive days on big days out, what I call big days out, and actually it just wipes everyone out. The kids, the parents. everyone just feels so wiped out that they're not actually enjoying everything, and I don't think it's completely necessary. Because here's the thing, you don't have to entertain your kids every second of every day. I think a lot of parents think they do. They think they need to be either taking them out all day or sitting down with them and then actually playing with them. But kids can be bored. Boredom is actually so good for kids. That's exactly where creativity comes from. Do you remember being a kid and how bored you used to feel sometimes in the summer holidays, and you found things to do? Those were the times when you created something, where you built something, where you made the most epic imaginary game that you've ever played, and then you carry on playing that game for several days. That comes from boredom. And I think in today's day and age, we feel like we have to entertain our kids all the time. I've heard so many moms say, "I don't have time to sit down and play puzzles and Lego with my kids for hours." Who does? And you shouldn't have to do that. You know, kids are quite capable of sitting there and figuring things out for themselves. Yeah, sit down with them for a bit, help them, start them off, you know, show them what to do, but then you, you can also leave them to it and they can play with each other, they can entertain themselves. So don't be scared of boredom. Don't be scared when your kids tell you that you're bored. Tell them that's a good thing, and that they need to use their imaginations to go and create something. And also, you know, you need to protect your energy too, especially if you're the one holding everything together. So balance. Big day, chill day. Busy, slow. In, out. It makes the whole summer feel more sustainable All right, now let's talk about the bit that no one really talks about, the mental prep. Because you can have the best plans in the world, you can pack bags, the meal list, the calendar color-coded by activity, but if you go into summer feeling resentful or overwhelmed or like you've already lost it before you've begun, none of that stuff actually matters. So here's what I do Take from it what you need. I check in with myself before the holidays start. How am I actually feeling about this? What am I dreading? What am I looking forward to? And where do I need to lower my expectations? Because summer is not going to be perfect. There will be arguments. There will be rainy days. There will be moments where everyone's crying, including you And that's totally normal The mental prep is about accepting that now, so you're not blindsided by it later. It's also about protecting your identity because when you're surrounded by your kids twenty-four seven for weeks on end, it's really easy to disappear, to forget that you're a person outside of snack provider and referee. So I make sure I've got little pockets of time built in for me, even if it's just ten minutes with a cup of tea while they're watching something. That's perfectly acceptable. I remind myself that I matter too, and I try not to wait until I'm completely burnt out to take a breath. It's actually really important that you do that And this is actually why I created, or one of the reasons why I created Back to Me, because summer is one of those seasons that can completely swallow you if you're not careful. Back to Me helps you build the practical systems and do the emotional work so you're ready for anything. The weekly rhythms, the self-care that actually fits into your life, the guilt release, the identity stuff, it's all in there So if you're listening to this thinking, "I need more of this. I need support. I need someone to help me figure out how to stop losing myself every single time life gets busy back to me might be exactly what you're looking for. I'll drop the link in the show notes. No pressure. Just know that it's there if you need it So here's what I want you to take away from today. Summer doesn't have to be survival mode. It really doesn't. With a bit of prep, a bit of flexibility, and a lot of self-compassion, you can actually enjoy it. Not every moment, let's be realistic here, but more of it. And you don't have to do it perfectly, just do it your way. You just have to go in with a loose plan, protect your energy, and remember- That you're allowed to be a person too. It's your summer holiday too. You've got this. I believe in you, and I'll be right here doing it alongside you with my five kids and my color-coded snack drawer. Thank you so much for listening and being here with me week after week. Try and enjoy the summer holidays, and I'll see you next week